While the girls mulled over the information and the rewards distributed, Zomo focused on his own rewards.
[Reward 1: You have obtained the Item: 'Stat Boosting Pill Recipe.']
[Reward 2: You have obtained the Item: 'Well Sharpened Spear.']
Zomo sighed as he looked at his two rewards, rubbing the back of his head and clicking his tongue. Though, he wasn't annoyed- just accepting.
He knew that there was no way that all of the Diary's Rewards would be things that would be good for him. The Stat Boosting Pill Recipe was good- a pill that temporarily boosted your stats to help out in a pinch- but he wasn't an alchemist, and he had no intentions of going down that path. Trying to do so would require the 'Mixing' Development Ability, and that would just use up an important development ability slot.
This recipe would instead have to be passed onto Naaza- but later, much later, once he'd built a good rapport with her. He was fairly sure that Naaza had a copy of the diary, so manipulating her a little when he went to meet her and writing about her failed love for Miach in the diary would be easy to maybe get her to at least start giving up on being with him romantically.
The pill recipe would be a gift to her, and he knew it would definitely help endear her to him.
As for the spear, that was truly the first 'useless' item he'd received. With Bifrost, he'd never need another weapon except perhaps a dagger to help with digging magic stones out of the bodies of monsters... Even then, once he managed to recruit Lili as his supporter, he'd never need to worry about such a thing again.
It was a shame his system didn't come with an inventory since it made it hard to try and explain away how he got things. Yes, Hestia likely had a diary copy. But he still needed explanations in case she asked, since she would likely try and act like she didn't have a copy of the diary.
So, instead, he just decided to leave the spear as unclaimed- same with the pill recipe. System rewards never went away; they always just waited to be claimed. By not claiming them, he could have the system act as a sort of pseudo inventory- though only once for each item.
He tapped his chin in thought, pulling out the notebook he'd made notes of the Dungeon in and began to read. His thoughts idly drifted, going back to think about the System.
The sub-par second rewards showed him that the more entries he wrote in the diary a day, the worse the rewards got over time. This was likely a function of the diary itself- to prevent him from just doing a bunch of entries one after the other in order to become incredibly powerful.
But that also meant that he could probably avoid writing in the diary for a few days, and let it build up rewards... Then, when he wrote in it, he'd receive an incredible reward.
It was worth testing out, he'd make a note of it in the diary, so the girls didn't start to think he'd died or something... The last thing he wanted was for the girls to panic, thinking something had killed him early and thus making moves that would fuck up the timeline too far out of his control.
Zomo wasn't stupid. He knew that his mere appearance and joining the Hestia Familia would change the timeline, not to mention the actions he or the girls would be taking. The longer he kept the timeline within his control- the better.
"First priority, getting stronger," he murmured. He didn't know how good the growth of Dia Kaos would be yet, but he would find out the next day. "Once I'm strong enough, I'll put up the ad for a supporter... If I'm right, once I do that and write in the diary about Lili taking the advertisement, plus with a little fake future knowledge... Lili will definitely pick up the job."
To Zomo, Lili was an extremely important member of the Familia.
Not only was her magic- Cinder Ella- excellent for intelligence gathering, but Lili herself was exceptional at strategizing. Especially after learning from Finn, it was Lili who called the shots during the battle against the Freya Familia and was able to work through the difficulties of surprise variables to help lead the combined forces to victory.
However, he was also aware that Lili had more potential in her soul than she realised. After all, the girl was the reincarnation of Fianna- the leader of the Knights of Fianna from a legend within the DanMachi universe. Fianna was so powerful that people mistook her mighty power for her being a genuine Goddess.
With that kind of potential- Lili must also have the same potential as Fianna. She merely suffered the massive setback of lack of proper training, and a host of other issues that came with her not being able to escape the Soma Familia.
Of course, had Zomo knew Lili had awoken Bloodfury Spear already, he would have likely gone straight to burning down the entire Soma Familia once he reached Level 2 in order to add her to the Hestia Familia.
So, instead, he patiently waited for Hestia to return home so the two could enjoy a nice meal together. After all, he was headed to the Dungeon tomorrow.
.
.
.
Zomo woke up bright and early the next morning, Hestia clinging to him like she was a koala.
The benefit of being Hestia's first Familia member was, indeed, powerful... Having a short stack goddess all to himself, clinging to him in bed was a benefit that many gods would kill him just for an opportunity to have her.
After all, Vesta was one of the most desired gods within the heavens- having turned down countless people simply because she held little to no interest in them. The woman wasn't a shut-in, per say, but she was definitely incredibly anti-social.
The people Vesta interacted with in Tenkai on a regular basis could be counted on a single hand: Takemikazuchi, Miach, Hephaestus, Loki, and Artemis.
Many others- Gods and Goddesses- had all been turned away by Vesta. One of the most famous cases of rejection came when Apollo attempted to court her, and Vesta verbally beat him down so badly that he would forever hold a grudge against her for humiliating him.
If they could all see Vesta- Hestia- as she was now, clinging to Zomo like she was his girlfriend who didn't want her lover to get up and leave... Some of them might start a war game out of sheer rage.
Still, Zomo shook his head fondly and reached out, gently shaking her.
Hestia groaned as she slowly opened her eyes, yawning as she lifted her head to look into Zomo's eyes. As she woke up, her eyes lit up upon seeing him and she hugged him tightly. "Hehe~ Morning cuddles~" She cooed out happily.
Even Zomo with his excellent poker face couldn't stop the heat rising to his cheeks... After all, Hestia was a stunning woman. How could he not get red when she held him so tightly, her impressive bust squishing against his chest.
"Good morning to you too, Hestia," he cleared his throat, returning the hug and patting her back lightly. "I didn't know you were so clingy."
"You're my first Familia Member," she rubbed her face against his cheek with a happy smile. "So, let me be a bit selfish, okay?"
Hestia wouldn't deny that she was clingy, in fact she would happily boast about it. After all, Zomo had chosen her Familia not just once- but twice. Given that Ais Wallenstein's name was in the diary, she was certain that Loki likely had a copy of the diary as well. Plus, with his future knowledge, Zomo could have joined any Familia he pleased and helped them obtain the best Adventurers for the future.
But instead, he had chosen her. Not just once, but twice.
To Hestia, this was as good as saying 'Only Hestia can be my Goddess.'
Zomo just chuckled and cuddled with her a bit longer before he climbed out of bed. "Right, come up, up and at 'em," he told her. "You have work, and I need to head down into the Dungeon today."
She let out a soft whine but didn't complain as they both went through some daily rituals- brushing their teeth, a small breakfast together, the two of them slowly finding and falling into a rhythm together.
Hestia helped him put on the beginner armour he'd picked up when he'd registered at the guild the previous day, taking a step back and smiling at him warmly. "You look very handsome, Zomo."
He just gave her a small smile. "Please try not to feel lonely while I'm gone, Hestia. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but I'll try to be back before sunset."
"Mm!" She nodded with a smile. "I have faith in you, Zomo! Come back safely, okay?"
The raven haired man nodded and waved as he walked off, a hand resting on Bifrost's hilt as he walked away from the church and began to walk towards the dungeon. Once he was out of sight of Hestia, he pulled out the diary.
[For the next few days, I am going to avoid writing in the diary.]
The diary readers all blinked in surprise as that line was forced into their minds, surprised by what he'd just said- but the answer as to why came soon after.
[Yesterday, I wrote in the diary twice to receive rewards. The first reward I received was a perfectly good reward- that being my new sword. My second rewards, however, were not suitable for me. They were the first 'useless' rewards that I've obtained from the Diary. This leads me to a conclusion- the Diary doesn't like me doing multiple entries per day.]
[This is probably in place so that I don't abuse the diary by writing a bunch of entries in a single day and try to claim a bunch of rewards. However, this also then leads to the question on if I don't write for several days- do the rewards get better?]
[I'll leave this entry here for now and come back in say two or three days. Let me just check the topic for when I pick this back up... Hm? The entry this time is meant to be about Riveria, huh?]
After the last diary entry, Riveria was the one who was chosen to select a topic for the next entry. After some consideration, Riveria had decided to put herself. This was because she wasn't ashamed of anything significant in her past, so she didn't have a problem with it being shared. But it was also a test- to see how much Zomo knew about her.
Depending on what he knew, then she could conclude that the two of them might be fairly close in the future... Though, she had definitely picked up on the fact that Zomo did seem to know quite a lot about various girls... She'd already drawn the conclusion that he likely had a harem in the future. Not that she had a problem with that, it was perfectly legal.
Alas, it seemed she would have to wait a few days for Zomo to pick up the diary and make any new entries... Though, there was a chance he might add a sentence here or there over the next few days- they would all have to wait and see.
With his piece now written, Zomo slipped away the diary. Luckily, he didn't have to carry the diary and quill on him at all times. Like most systems, he could summon them both by will and then dismiss them when they weren't needed.
In no time, he found himself standing at Babel Tower- the entrance to the Dungeon. He kept his hand firmly on Bifrost's pommel as he felt a little bit of excitement filling him, along with a good amount of caution.
He would have to make sure to not get too cocky... He may have Sky Flames and Dia Kaos, but right now he was at zero stats across the board. Even on the first floor, he would remain cautious. He had around a month and a half before Bell Cranel was meant to arrive in Orario, he was in no rush.
And so, taking a deep breath, Zomo made his way down into the Dungeon for his first visit.